Accentuate the Interrogative
Accentuate the Interrogative is the fifteenth episode of Red vs. Blue: Season 12 and the 260th episode overall. It aired on August 25, 2014. Characters Reds and Blues *Washington *Carolina *Tucker *Caboose *Epsilon *Sarge *Simmons *Grif *Donut *Lopez *Freckles (Mentioned Only) Federal Army of Chorus *Emily Grey Space Pirates *Zachary Miller *Several soldiers *Felix (Mentioned only) *Locus (Mentioned only) *Control (Mentioned only) Other *Allison (Mentioned only) Plot Troubled over the events at Crash Site Alpha, Tucker seeks advice from Washington about leadership, acknowledging that while he tries, he only ends up ruining missions or getting others killed. Wash tells Tucker that he should do what he thinks is best and always learn from his mistakes. He then adds that while Tucker may not like his own decisions, he has become a more improved soldier since his time at Blood Gulch. Simmons then approaches the two and asks Wash to calm down Carolina, as she is unable to gain any information from the space pirate. As the Blood Gulch Crew regroup, Epsilon informs them that the files on the manifest the Reds obtained are locked, due to them previously accessing the manifest without proper clearance. After Carolina joins the group, still unable to gain any info from the mercenary, Dr. Grey suggests she interrogate the pirate, since the latter was responsible for killing her comrades. While the merc is initially unintimidated by Grey, she tortures him with surgical equipment, terrifying the Blood Gulch Crew. Grey then returns from her interrogation, having managed to gain the merc's name, Zachary Miller, as well as coordinates to a nearby radio jammer. Wash and Carolina then take over the interrogation and ask Zachary about the large tower at Crash Site Alpha. Zachary tells them that the "tractor beam" is one of the few alien relics that the pirates have activated and was responsible for bringing them to Chorus. He then adds that the mercs use the tractor beams to bring in ships, where they kill the onboard passengers and sell the equipment to the Chorus' two armies. However, the beams were unable to fully attract the Reds and Blues' ship, due to the problems the group caused on it while on board, and instead caused it to tear in half. Carolina and Wash then ask Zachary about the number of mercs currently on Chorus, in which Zach states that there are a few dozen of them, and briefly mentions his superior. He further explains that Control provides the pirates with supplies and scientists to manufacture the weapons and has put in an immense amount of time and effort into the project. Just then, Zachary is suddenly shot and killed by another mercenary, prompting Carolina and Wash to open fire. After Wash contacts the other Reds and Blues, they regroup inside the lab with them. When Carolina questions how the mercs keep finding them, Wash realizes that the storage unit Locus gave him was actually a tracking device. As a result, he uses a Teleportation Grenade to teleport the group away from the base. Arriving at the Desert Refueling Station, Wash informs everyone that Freckles' storage unit contains a tracking device. Transcript Fade in to the forest base. Tucker is seen alone. Wash approaches him. Wash: '''Well, Carolina's patched up again. Grey really hounded her on the "no more super speed" thing. You know, I don't think I've ever seen a civilian lecture a Freelancer like that before. It was... pretty entertaining, actually. '''Tucker: '''Hey Wash, uh, you got a sec? '''Wash: I swear to god, if you want me to look at another rash, I'm gonna hit you. Tucker: '''No, it's just... it feels like every choice I make is the worst. '''Wash: '''Oh holy shit, you're being serious. '''Tucker: '''Back at the canyon, you told me to try to be better, and ever since then, that's all people keep telling me! "Try this," "try that." Well I'm fucking trying, and so far all that happens is that I either get people killed or I ruin the mission! I mean, how are you supposed to know if you're making the right call? '''Wash: '''Well... you don't. There's never really a right or wrong answer. You just have to stick with what you think is best. '''Tucker: But what if what I think it's best totally sucks? Wash: '''Then you learn from it and you try again. '''Tucker: '''Oh my god. It's like you people are a fucking loop. '''Wash: '''Tucker, I know you're frustrated but you have to realize that making mistakes is just part of the deal. Even with everything you've screwed up, look at how far you made it. You're not the same person you were back at Blood Gulch. '''Tucker: ...Is it bad that I kinda wish I was? Wash: '''Yes! You were a terrible excuse for a human being. '''Tucker: Hey! Wash: I'm kidding. Tucker: Fuck you, dude! I'm over here spilling my guts and shit, and you're cracking jokes?! That's messed up! Wash: Now who's melodramatic? Tucker: Man, I should've just left your ass with the Feds. Simmons approaches the two. Simmons: 'Hey Wash, can we borrow you for a second? '''Wash: '''Everything okay? '''Simmons: '''Ever since that pirate guy regained consciousness, Carolinas been trying to get info out of him... but so far nothing is working. '''Wash: '''So you need help with the interrogation? '''Simmons: '''Actually... We were hoping you could calm down Carolina. ''A gunshot is heard in the background and noise of broken glass. '''Carolina: ''(offscreen screaming) Why won't he talk?! '''Simmons: '''She's a liiittle frustrated. ''Cut to Red Team and Caboose standing in a clearing. Epsilon appears a few meters away but gets a crate thrown through him. He reappears next to Sarge who was watching Epsilon: Well she definitely takes after her mother. Sarge: 'Was her mother some sort of silverback gorilla on steroids? '''Epsilon: '''Yeah you better be happy her mother is not around to hear you say that! ''Wash, Tucker, Grif and Simmons walk next to them 'Wash: ' How's it going? '''Grif: '''Oh you know.. terrible. '''Tucker: '''You still got the manifest? '''Epsilon: '''Yes actually, no thanks to you. The Reds did manage to bring back a completely intact drive with the ship's records and manifest. '''Simmons: '''Yeah you know, suck it, Blue. '''Epsilon: '''And thanks to the Reds, those documents are currently locked! '''Simmons: '''Oh... wait, yeah. '''Wash: '''What? '''Epsilon: '''Yes apparently they accessed the ship's records the last time they were on board, but since they didn't have the proper clearance, the files are now in security lockdown. '''Tucker: '''Aren't you like part of the Matrix now,? Why don't you just hack it? '''Epsilon: '''Oh, why don't I just hack it? Oh while I'm at it, why don't I just download the mainframe and cross reference the data base, huh? Don't talk to me about technical shit. This is hard, okay? It's just making me a little... '''Donut: Frustrated? Epsilon: 'I was gonna say completely filled with rage, but yeah, frustrated. ''Carolina walks over to the group. '''Carolina: '''Talking about me? '''Epsilon: '''Actually, no. '''Carolina: I don't get it. He's not giving up anything Dr. Grey walks over to the group. Dr. Grey: '''Excuse me, I've been washing your blood of my armor so I'm a little late to the conversation. Did you say the prisoner is awake? '''Grif: For now, but I've got five bucks that says Carolina rips his spine out within the hour. Simmons: 'I'll take those odds. '''Dr. Grey: '''I see. If you don't mind, do you think I could have a few minutes alone with him? '''Sarge: '''Ha, you gonna give him a band aid for every beating he gets? '''Dr. Grey: '''Well if you recall, he and his partners turned every one of my friends at outpost 37 into piles of ash. Anyone sick enough to do something like that would almost certainly benefit from an uh...checkup. ''Sarge and Carolina look at each other in confusion. Cut to Dr. Grey and the Pirate inside the base. '''Pirate: ''(taunting)'' Oo, Whats the matter? Did the big bad freelancer get all tuckered out? Dr. Grey: 'Do you know where we are? '''Pirate: '''Huh? '''Dr. Grey: '''This is a remote research facility designed to study the surrounding wildlife. I volunteered at one just like it at grad school. Its got a laboratory, an incinerator and oodles of state of the art surgical equipment. Would you like to see them? ''Cut to the Reds and Blues standing outside the base whilst listening to the tortured screams of the pirate, various equipment noises and Dr. Grey's cheerfully singing opera. '''Simmons: (nervously) Sarge... I'm scared. Sarge: 'Simmons, we're all scared. ...except for me. ''The noises stop and Dr. Grey emerges from the base. '''Dr. Grey: (cheerfully) His name's Zachary Miller, he's ex-military, and he was kind enough to hand over the coordinates to a nearby radio jamming tower. Carolina: You're kidding. Dr. Grey: No silly, I'm Doctor Grey! Ha! Dad joke. Carolina: 'Alright, think hes in a position to answer a few more questions? '''Dr. Grey: '''Oh absolutely! ''(lowers voice) Lemme just go put him back together... Dr. Grey runs of screen into the base. Cut to Caboose and Tucker. '''Tucker: Caboose? Caboose: 'Yes. '''Tucker: '''Don't ever stick your dick in crazy. '''Caboose: '''I have no idea what that means. '''Tucker: '''I know. ''Cut to Dr. Grey, Carolina and Wash inside the base with Zachary. 'Dr. Grey: '''You'll find his belongings on the crate over there and that his tone is much more positive. ''(lowers voice and gets up in Zachary's face) Isn't that right Zachary? '''Zachary: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET THIS PSYCHOPATH AWAY FROM ME!!! Dr. Grey: He's all yours! Dr. Grey leaves the room. Epsilon: Hey Carolina, I'm gonna go dark for a little bit, focus on this manifest. You got this? Carolina: (laughs) ''Oh yeah. The radio jammers. Talk. '''Zachary:' I already told your friend about the nearest one okay? Carolina: '''I want to know about all of them. '''Zachary: I don't know all of them! I swear! Look, if you take out the jammer at the coast, you'll at least be able to make contact with the capitol. That helps right? Now will you let me go? Washington: There seems to be a misunderstanding. Your options are either A, staying here forever or B, the incinerator directly behind you. Zachary: H-ha, uh, good point. Well what else do you want? Carolina: The giant tower at crash site Alpha. What is it doing? Zachary: '''What? The tractor beams? That's why your ship crashed here in the first place. They're some of the only alien relics we've managed to activate. Ships come by, we pull them down and then kill everyone aboard. After that, the mercs sell the supplies to the armies. Would have worked on you too but something went wrong. It was like the ship tried to jump to slip-space, change course and power down all at the same time. It didn't make any sense. Instead of pulling you down, the ship got ripped apart. '''Washington: ...I'm...gonna go ahead and claim partial responsibility for that. Carolina: How many of you are there on Chorus? Zachary: '''Ha uh, enough to get the job done. '''Carolina: '''Give me numbers or I give you back to the Doctor. '''Zachary: Wow, lets not get hasty. Ah, there's a few dozen of us, alright? Washington: '''A few dozen? '''Zachary: '''Quality over quantity. You freelancers should know something about that. I worked for the mercs on another job along time ago. Guess I did good cause they came back, and they had the offer of a lifetime. '''Washington: Wiping out an entire planet? Zachary: You call it genocide, I call it one hell of a pay check. Carolina: 'And who exactly is paying for all of this. '''Zachary: '''Beats me. The client sends us supplies and scientists to run the weapons manufacturing, but Locus and Felix are the only ones that talk with them. We'll get the occasional direct order if things are getting dicey but other than that, we're kept in the dark. I can tell you this though, who ever it is, has invested a lot of time and a lot of money into this project. If you think they're just gonna sit back and let you throw it all away, ''(laughing) then you've got another thing comi- Zachary is hit by a sniper and incinerates into ash. 'Carolina: '''Damn it! ''Carolina looks over to see a soldier standing on a large bolder behind them. Washington and Carolina begin to shoot at the soldier, killing him. '''Washington: Again?! Carolina: '''Epsilon! '''Epsilon: I'm here. Uh there's three more closing in on the guys. Washington: (over radio) Tucker, Sarge, more pirates incoming. Sarge: (over radio) What? Men, battle stations! Washington: (over radio) Get to the lab as soon as you can! We can hold them off from here! Tucker: (over radio) Got it! Epsilon: We've got more hostiles inbound. Carolina: 'What?! ''The Reds, Blues, and Emily charge into the lab shouting indistinctly. '''Tucker: '''What the hell's going on?! '''Epsilon: '''We're being surrounded! '''Carolina: '''How do they keep finding us?! '''Epsilon: I don't know. What is it, is there an informant? A tracking device? Wash lowers his rifle, and remembers Locus handing him Freckles' storage unit from before. Dissolve to a flashback of Locus handing Washington Freckles' storage unit. Washington: (flashback) Is this supposed to be some sort of apology? Locus: (flashback) Is it? Dissolve back to the present time. Wash turns to Caboose. Washington: 'Oh no... ''Wash notices Zach's two teleportation grenades behind him. '''Epsilon: Everyone get ready! Sarge cocks his shotgun and runs outside. Sarge: 'Today is a good day to- ''A teleportation grenade explodes and the group is teleported to the desert refueling station. '''Sarge: -sit down for a minute and just have a rest, cause' think I'm gonna throw up. Simmons: Ugh, we're back at the gas station? Donut: Good! I think I need a bathroom. Grif: '''I would not recommend it. '''Tucker: (coughing) How did we get here? 'Washington: '''It's Freckles. Freckles is the tracking device. ''Camera focuses on Caboose. Cut to black. Gallery 12 15 00002.png 12 15 00003.png 12 15 00006.png 12 15 00007.png Quality over quantity - S12E15.png 12 15 00009.png Trivia *Carolina's forearms and legs again shift between Mark V and Mark VI from scene to scene. *This episode reveals that Freckles' storage chip was implanted with a tracking device by Locus. *The "Suck it, Blue!" gag returns in this episode *Grif not recommending the bathroom to Donut is due to the fact that he found a corpse the last time he was there. *The episode's title is a reference to the term, "Accentuate the negative." Additionally, it references the interrogation of the mercenary. *Sarge's cut-off statement, "Today is a good day to-," is a reference to K.I.T. B.F.F. and Trust Issues, where Sarge says similar statements. * While torturing Zachary, Dr. Grey sings Habanera from Carmen.Arryn Zech Interview *This episode reveals how the Space Pirates managed to crash the UNSC ship carrying the Blood Gulch Crew. According to Zach, they used an alien tractor beam located at Crash Site Alpha to attract the ship onto the planet. **However, because of the group's actions on board, the ship ripped in two instead, with the half the Reds and Blues were on landing in a different location. This in fact saved the Blood Gulch Crew from being killed by the Space Pirates, as the Space Pirates intended to kill all those on board the spacecraft once it landed. *According to Miles Luna, originally the Reds and Blues were going to attempt interrogating Zachary before Dr. Grey. However, it was cut due to time constraints. It's been confirmed to be included on the Season 12 DVD. ** The deleted scene starts with Sarge suggesting the Reds interrogate Zachary, since they managed to once capture Tex. Simmons goes first, telling his life story of being bullied to Zachary. Then Donut begins singing a song from one of the 12 musicals he wrote while in the Red Army. Next, Lopez annoys Zachary by doing "celebrity impersonations," mainly famous annoying telephone answering tones. Finally Grif walks up, but because he is so lazy, he instead brings Caboose with him to do the annoying for him. Caboose insists that Zachary "tell him all his secrets" and then repeats "Do it" repeatedly, shortening the intervals until he is repeatedly chanting it, at which point Zachary starts screaming. References Video Category:Episodes Category:Season 12